We’ve reached the penultimate episode, y’all. You know what they say, two seasons forward and twenty-five years back. The loss of Pablo has left our heroes pretty well wrecked, and the only option seems to be to return to where, and when, it all began.

The golden days of VHS have long since passed, but that does not keep filmmakers from exploiting those who look back in fond memory of dead technology. Beyond the Gates delves even deeper nostalgia by featuring a VHS relic that until recently I didn't remember existed- VCR board games. The concept of course being your classic board game, but with a VHS that you popped into the VCR that then communicated the rules and various other interactions over the course of gameplay.

Haven’t seen the first American Poltergeist movie? Neither has anyone who made American Poltergeist 2. Fun fact: American Poltergeist 2 is two years older than the film it allegedly follows. In 2013 it was known as You Will Love Me, before adopting the title of The POLTERGEIST of Borley Forest in 2015 (that’s the DVD cover’s emphasis, not mine).

If you’re excited by the idea of lots of scenes of a woman sleeping in an apartment while a hooded figure lurks in her closet, drinks milk, and goes through her photos, then do I have a recommendation for you.

The road to horror is paved with the terrible decision making of often less than intellegent characters. In the case of SiREN (the V/H/S spinoff spawned from the the "Amateur Night" segment) it's a bunch of dude bros out for a night of debauchery during a bachelor party. Drinking at a seedy strip club leads to shrooms which leads to these geniuses following a complete stranger to the middle of nowhere with the promise they will have the time of their lives...what could possibly go wrong?

Most adults have probably had nightmares that play out like the plot of American Poltergeist. Not the “I’m in cahoots with a centuries-old demon” part, but the part where, as a grown up, you allow a group of college students to live with you in your house. Who hasn’t woken up in a cold sweat, furiously panting: “What have I done? They keep insane hours and don’t clean up after themselves!” Just me?

A scroll at the beginning of Under the Shadow serves to inform us that the Iraq-Iran war is thought to be the longest conventional war of the 20th century. A unique and interesting touch stone to signal that you are not going to see your typical haunting film and a affirmative nod toward the cultural impact which rounds Under the Shadow into something a little more special than your typical supernatural thrill fest.

What can be written about one of the greatest horror films (if not one of the best films more broadly) of all time? What can be added to the conversation that hasn’t already been said? Quite possibly nothing, and so that is not what this reviewer will seek to do.

There comes a time in every hero’s journey when that hero needs saving themselves. That time has come for Ash who, last we saw him, was trapped inside a dilapidated asylum, with Baal playing dress up as his Doctor (Dr. Peacock, I’ll have you know), and no friends around him.